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Written by Mary Amendolia Gardner, a contemporary spiritual director. This is an excerpt from her work “Five Ways to Start Gospel Conversations.”

One of the most compelling gospel stories is your own story. How did you come to faith? What difference has it made in your life? Perhaps you have never reflected on this. It is worth taking the time to write out your testimony. Have a ten-minute version and consider a two-minute version, too. It doesn’t matter if your journey to faith was not dramatic; the point is that it is your story. Learning to tell the story of our faith journey takes practice. What we tell, and to whom, depends on the context, who is asking the question, and why they want to know. The book of Acts is full of examples of different approaches to evangelism. Our role as Jesus’s disciples is always to be prepared to share the hope that we have in us. And one of the best ways to do this may be to tell others about our journey of faith. The key is that we must do so in gentleness and respect, not being arrogant, forceful, or obnoxious. Sharing one’s story is not merely retelling facts. Storytelling is an art form. Part of telling one’s story of faith is listening to the other person. What sorts of questions are they asking? What is their background, their personal situation, their own history of encounters with religion or with Christianity? How might we listen well, and how might we ask them good questions? When I share my testimony, I don’t necessarily tell my entire testimony sequentially nor do I tell all parts of my story. Sometimes I just share one significant event in my faith journey. It all depends on context and the person with whom I am speaking. Discernment is necessary.

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. [1 Peter 3:15-16]

Written by Lia Icaza Willetts, a contemporary Methodist pastor.

God, our Creator, we offer this humble prayer with a song of thanks in our hearts—a song of redemption, a song of hope and renewal. We pray for joy in our hearts, hope in our God, love to forgive, and peace upon the earth. We ask for the salvation of all our family members and friends, and we pray your blessings on all people. May there be bread for the hungry, love for the unlovable, healing for the sick, protection for our children, and wisdom for our youth. We pray for the forgiveness of sinners and abundant life in Christ. Holy Spirit, fill our hearts with your love and power. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.[Psalm 28:7]

Written by Betty and Cathy Simm from the Village Church

Christmas brings lots of cheer.

Why does it come just once a year?

Celebrating Christmas opens our hearts.

Giving not receiving is the inner urge it imparts.

Christmas is more than just one day.

God came from Heaven to show His way.

Jesus Emmanuel was His name on earth.

Inspired believers despite his barnyard birth.

He grew and learned, gave hope and healed.

Jesus opened the door to Heaven revealed.

We celebrate Christmas with our gifts and love

to remember ALWAYS God’s gift from above.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. [2 Corinthians 4:6]

Written by Julie Palmer, a contemporary writer.

Love came, held safely within a gentle womb

All the truth, majesty, and creativity of a living God

Poured into a tiny heart

Making a quiet entrance in a dark and uninviting shack

Just one star shone anew as a handful of people were brought

Led by angelic voices, and open hearts

A young mother

A faith-filled father

Men of wisdom who searched for truth

And a group of humble herdsmen

They came to bow before a new life

And acknowledge that the rescuer had arrived

That the Word of God had come alive

And that the extraordinary transformation of heaven and earth

Had begun.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! [Psalm 107:1]

Written by Brian Morykon, a contemporary writer and director of Communications for Renovare, an organization that focuses on spiritual formation.

Sometimes I wonder what the Incarnation changed.  I mean, I know—my head knows—it changed everything. It divided time. It brought the Kingdom close. It ripped open the portal to union with God. But, … knowing that somewhere someone is grieving a baby beheaded by a terrorist, I feel a temptation to despair.  Then this thought stabilizes my soul: God never pretended that the arrival of Jesus was a quick fix for humanity’s woes.  From day one, Jesus was swaddled in suffering.  Think of the stable. The long trip to Egypt. Herod’s Bethlehem massacre. Later, naked on a cross, suffering was his only covering. But the suffering that surrounded Jesus throughout his life and the suffering he experienced firsthand did not suffocate him. Humanity’s hurt moved him; it did not overwhelm him. Sin broke his heart; it did not break his joy. The birth and life of Jesus did change everything—I’m believing it again with fresh feeling as I write—but perhaps not in the way or on the timetable we had hoped.  In the Incarnation, God is saying … Life on earth matters. People matter. Pain matters. When I made all I made in the way I made it, I knew what I was doing. I understood the cost of free will, which I know may seem hard to believe. So I’ll take on your frame. I’ll experience all you feel and more. I’ll show you how to live at peace in a troubled world, how to be an unhurried and healing presence. I’ll come in the flesh to be an example to you. Then I’ll come in the Spirit to be life in you. My rescue will be fast. Your adoption will be quick as a hammer’s swing. My rescue will be slow. Millenia will pass before the fullness of the Kingdom comes. My slowness is not cruelty or lack of care. On the contrary: I’m birthing a people of everlasting joy. That takes time.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.  [John 1:14]

Written by Kathy Loftman, from the Village Church.

Candle flame to unlit candle across each aisle in the darkness of the sanctuary. The singing of Silent Night in the background. There is nothing compared to the scene of a full church with all the candles lighting up the room. The light represents the light of Christ that came into the world. It also represents the Star of Bethlehem that guided the magi to the manger where Baby Jesus was born. This tradition sends the gospel message of God loving us, and of our loving God and one another.

I grew up going each year with my family to the Christmas Eve midnight worship service. It was a beautiful service that I looked forward to, the highlight of my Christmas experience. I think about the passing of the candle flame in services conducted throughout the world, for many centuries, in all the situations, and I feel connected with the worshippers.  The most poignant memory I have is the virtual candlelight service that we conducted at Village Church in 2020. Since we could not congregate in the sanctuary, we all recorded our candle flame passing, and the recordings were combined into a video that was shared at our virtual midnight service. In the midst of the lockdown, we felt the strong community with our church family throughout the world and for all times.

Written by Vickie Stone, from the Village Church.

The old recipe card is dog-eared, stained, and worn. I know the ingredients and the steps well.  As a little girl in Ohio, with my brother and two sisters we would gather around the kitchen table carefully rolling out the dough my mom had made the night before. Sprinkling flour on the tabletop and rubbing it on the rolling pin so that the dough would not stick, we rolled the dough flat and would carefully select our cutters: trees, deer, angels, stars, and bells.  We diligently cut out the cookies and carefully lined the soft shapes onto the cookie sheets. Into the oven they went. Oh, how the house smelled!  The sweet scent of vanilla wafting from the oven. After they had baked and cooled the next delight was using the colorful powdered sugar icing and sprinkles to decorate them. I remember our shaggy dog Molly, beneath the kitchen table, hopeful for any possible bits that might end up on her level. 

Even though I don’t have children, this tradition continues with my mom and me. Each Christmas season, we make sure to make our traditional cut-out cookies.

The sweet aroma of baking cookies is not left behind from decades ago… It is with us once more. After a bit of sampling of naked cookies (we call it quality control), Mom and I carefully ice them, but with much more attention to detail than when I was a little girl!  We giggle and show each other our works of art.

Baking cookies can remind us of the ingredients needed to nurture our faith.  Three Must-have Ingredients:  1) Bible reading.  Always a basic and necessary ingredient in our lives. 2) Christian fellowship.  As Jesus is our firm foundation, our brothers and sisters-in-Christ help us stay strong and find joy. Being together is an ingredient very much missed during the pandemic several years ago. 3) Prayer:  Prayer is needed daily beyond measure; praying regularly is essential. Giving thanks to the Lord for this season, a season of the promise fulfilled with the birth of our Savior.

Submitted by Lola Childs, from the Village Church.

O Light born of Light,

Jesus, redeemer of the world,

with kindness deign to receive

the praise and prayer of suppliants.

You who once deigned to be clothed in flesh

for the sake of the lost,

grant us to be made members

of your blessed body.

Written by Lyn Lloyd-Smith, from the Village Church.

If you ever find yourself in the UK or Ireland in December, consider going to a crazy, slapstick musical show, the traditional Christmas pantomime. The story will be based on a children’s tale, Cinderella or Dick Whittington perhaps, but it will bear no relation to any Disney version. The principal boy will be a girl, the pantomime dame will be a man, you will boo the villains and cheer the heroes. The audience will participate with cries of “Oh no there isn’t!” and “He’s behind you!” The performance is aimed at children, but there will be adult jokes and current political references that will go right over their heads. You may be wondering how on earth do these, and all other winter festivities, relate to the meaning of Christmas, to the holy moment of the birth of our Savior?

It seems to me that as with the raucous, secular pantomime, how each of us responds to the Nativity changes over our lifetime. For a child the scene in Bethlehem is all about the baby in the manger, the animals, and singing carols in the gloaming light. But as we get older, we gain more understanding of the transcendent nature of the Savior’s birth, the mystery of the moment when God entered history as a man.

This Christmas we will be spending the holiday season in England and are planning (with some trepidation!) to take our four small grandchildren, to see the pantomime Sleeping Beauty. May we all, as we enjoy the celebrations with child-like enthusiasm and appreciate the grown- up delights of wine and dark chocolate and Christmas parties, also take time to ponder, as Mary did, how Jesus’s birth changed everything. In Christmas are the seeds of Easter. While Christmas is a time to make merry, it is also a time of deep appreciation for our salvation. One is not possible without the other.

Written by Cindy Guy, from the Village Church.

Music is one of the hallmarks of the Christmas season.  I love hearing and singing all the Christmas carols at home, on the car radio, out shopping for gifts and at church services. My two all-time favorite Christmas carols are Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. It is said that music is the universal language that touches the soul.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem in 1863 entitled “Christmas Bells” which is such a beautiful work when sung and is better known as “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”  Here are a few of the poem’s stanzas that may reach you with their words of peace and power.  Merry CHRISTmas!

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; 
The Wrong shall fail
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”